Owned by Our Guns

I read that Shellie Zimmerman claimed that George always had to be holding his guns. I told my wife some people just own a firearm, and treat it like any other tool or machine, but others are owned by their guns. The first group occasionally make mistakes; the second group are deadly mistakes waiting to happen.

Since the Sandy Hook mass shooting, several mainstream media outlets are consciously paying more attention to gun violence. Consequently there have been a steady stream of, “five-year-old shoots three-year-old” stories. A few days ago was the story about the man who tried to prove his handgun wasn’t loaded by pointing it at his wife and pulling the trigger. As I recall, the bullet ricocheted off one of her leg bones and into the other leg.

But private citizens aren’t the only ones firing in error. Early Saturday morning, Charlotte police killed an injured man knocking on doors and seeking help after an auto accident. On Saturday night, NYPD officers wounded two bystanders while shooting at an erratic, but unarmed, man who was dodging cars in Times Square. Officers used to take pride in never firing their weapons while on duty. Now it seems that some of them can’t wait to shoot someone.

And today we are reading about another mass shooting at the SE Washington DC Navy Yard. There were at least three shooters, and so far at least twelve people are dead.

Update 20130917: Today’s reports say there was only one shooter, who is among the thirteen dead. The shooter had a history of gun violence.